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MAIN 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

GIKT  OF 


Received 
Accession  No. 


,  189  ty 
•    Class  No. 


MAGAZINE  ESSAYS. 


BY 


LEIGH  [RVIN£ 

CONTAINING    A  FEW    SHORT    ESSAYS    WRITTEN    DURING 
LEISURE   HOURS. 


FIRST  EDITION 


NEW  YORK. 

18SG. 


THE  NEWSPAPER  MEN  OF  AMERICA, 
WHOSE  ENTERPRISE  AND  ACHIEVE 
MENTS  I  ADMIRE,  AND  IN  WHOSE 
PROFESSION  I  HUMBLY  LABOR,  THIS 
LITTLE  VOLUME  IS  RESPECTFULLY 

DEDICATED  BY 

THE  AUTHOR. 


CONTENTS, 


I.  POE  AND  EMERSON. 

II.  STEAM  AND  HEREDITY. 

III.  ORATORY. 

IV.  STUDIES  IN  SUICIDE. 


PREFACE. 


The  author  offers  no  apology  for  the  publication  of  this  little  volume. 
As  the  title  indicates,  the  book  is  a  collection  of  magazine  papers,  writ 
ten  and  published  within  a  few  years.  Some  of  them  appeared  in  tin* 
Chicago  Current,  but  all  have  been  revised  for  this  edition.  It  is  propel- 
to  mention  that  the  paper  entitled  "Oratory"  is  an  extract  from  a  lecture 
delivered  in  a  number  of  western  cities.  The  iiapers  are  all  short,  ami 
the  author  humbly  submits  them  for  what  they  are  worth. 

Sincerely, 

LEIGH   IRVINE. 


POE  AND  EMERSON, 
I. 


FOE  AND  EMERSON. 


O  lover  °f  American  poetry  can  fail  to  admire  the  spirit  and  beauty 
of  Foe's  poems,  for  they  possess  a  rhythm  and  harmony  of  word 
arrangement  seldom  equaled  in  the  annals  of  modern  poesy.  The  re 
flective  tone  of  Emerson's  poetry,  on  the  other  hand,  stands  in  marked 
contrast  to  the  verses  of  Foe,  From  the  same  country  no  greater  dis- 
simmilarity  could  spring,  and  it  is  difficult  to  comprehend  how  the  same 
age  and  surroundings  of  civilization  could  produce,  from  a  common 
soil,  poets  so  totally  unlike  in  every  essential  particular.  The  poetry  of 
Emerson  is  even,  dignified,  philosophic;  that  of  Foe  is  full  of  the  mar 
velous,  abounds  in  intense  passion,  and  its  pictures  are  the  weird 
creations  of  a  restless  imagination. 

There  is  no  example  of  a  distinct  and  original  style  in  literature  which 
is  more  striking  than  the  alliterative  melodies  of  Edgar  A.  Foe,  by  the 
means  of  which  he  brought  a  new  verse  into  our  poetry.  !N"ot  less 
unique  than  Toe's  alliterations  are  the  abstract  and  isolated  gems  which 
are  sometimes  found  in  the  verse  of  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson.  A  study 
of  the  productions  of  Foe  and  Emerson— the  most  dissimilar  of  Ameri 
can  poets— is  fraught  with  interest.  ~No.  extremes  of  style  and  verse 
could  offer  more  striking  lights  and  shadows  of  thought  and  art  blend- 
ings.  The  '-Sage  of  Concord"  will  in  all  probability  be  worshiped  as  a 
philosopher  and  revered  as  a  clear  and  striking  essayist  when  his  poems 
are  read  by  none  save  the  appreciative  few.  Of  all  his  poems  Emerson 
believed  the  little  eleven  line  verse.  "Days,"  to  be  the  best.  The  lines 
czirry  a  deep  philosophy,  full  of  hints  and  candid  lessons,  and  will  bear 
insertion  here: 


12.  MAGAZINE  ESSAYS* 

Daughters  of  Time,  the  hypocritic  Days, 

Muflled  and  dumb  like  barefoot  dervishes. 

And  marching  single  in  an  endless  file,     s 

Bring  diadems  and  fagots  in  their  hands. 

To  each  they  offer  gifts  after  his  will, 

Bread,   kingdoms,  stars,  and  sky  that  holds  them  all. 

I,  in  my  pleached  garden,  watched  the  pomp,  • 

Forgot  my  morning  wishes,  hastily 

Took  a  lew  herbs  and  apples,  and  the  Day 

Turned  and  departed  silent.    I,  too  late, 

Tinder  her  solemn  liUet  saw  the  scorn. 

Even  ufter  carefully  presenting  such  a  verse  the  lover  of  Emerson's 
poetry  pauses  for  the  plaudits  he  may  be  eager  to  hear,  while  the  listener 
often  breaks  the  suspense  \vith  a  remark  which  it  would  be  difficult  to 
interpret  as  a  favorable  criticism.  The  unconventional  raiment  of  the 
thought  obscures  its  beauties  from  many  readers,  among  whom  may  be 
numbered  those  of  the  best  tastes.  13 tit  the  thought  itself  is  perhaps 
too  philosophic  for  poetry  of  the  true  stamp,  for,  in  technical  strictness, 
the  language  of  imagination  must  largely  enter  into  genuine  poetry.  A 
very  able  writer  on  the  rhetoric  of  versification  throws  light  on  this, 
topic.  The  following  quotation  from  his  work  suffices  to  draw  the  line 
between  poetry  and' prose:  "Prosaic  matter,"  he  says,  "even  if  put  into 
the  form  in  which  poetry  generally  appears,  is  still  nothing  more  than 
prose. "  Whether  Emerson's  "Days"  is  poetry  or  prose  each  reader  will 
decide  for  himself,  for  as  tastes  and  education  differ  so  must  judgments 
in  delicate  matters  like  these. 

It  is  well  known  to  readers  that  the  productions  of  Poe  and  Emerson 
are  wholly  unlike,  both  in  form  and  substance.  This  general  statement 
has  one  or  two  exceptions,  for  in  some  of  Emerson's  minor  verses  there 
are  constructions  not  unlike  the  touches  of  Poe.  The  little  poem  in 
which  occurs  the  line — 

And  rounds  with  rhyme  her  every  rune, 

is  one  instance  of  such  similarity  of  form.  A  singular  fact  is  that  the 
poems  of  Emerson  were  severely  criticised,  even  ridiculed,  by  Poe,  while 
Emerson  regarded  Poe  as  a  jingler,  who  played  upon  words  as  a  child 
would  amuse  itself  with  a  rattle,  as  one  who  mistook  the  form  for  the 
substance  ot  poetry.  There  is,  aside  from  the  open  criticisms  of  each, 
sufficient  evidence  in  the  works  of  the  two  poets  to  enable  us  to  see  how 
widely  they  differed  in  their  conceptions  of  poetry.  But  these  poets- 
were  much  alike  in  their  manner  of  working,  save  that  their  patient 


MAGAZINE  ESSAYS.  > 

labor  was  spent  in  different  directions.  Both  wrote  slowly,  and  it< 
required  much  time  for  them  to  evolve  a  verse  which  was  satisfactory, 
Emerson  wrote  slowly.  Walking  in  the  quiet  wood,  he  would  pause  to 
record  his  thought,  and  he  waited  long  for  a  gleam  of  light  which  would 
bear  the  analysis  of  his  strong  mental  spectroscope.  Toe's  literary 
workshop,  as  revealed  in  his  remarkable  essay  on  "The  Philosophy  of 
Composition,"  is  one  of  the  curiosities  of  literature.  In  reading  '-The 
Raven"  one  would  suppose  it  to  have  been  written  when  every  cell  of 
the  author's  brain  was  aglow  with  passion,  and  this  is  the  popular  impres 
sion  of  its  origin,— but  it-is  wrong.  "The  Raven,"  according  to  the  best 
evidence  at  hand,  was  not  written  hurriedly,  after  a  prolonged  spree, 
but  carefully,  thoughtfully,  and  in  calm  hours  of  careful  study.  "The 
Raven"  was  slowly  evolved  from  a  complicated  network  of  carefully- 
planned  notes  and  literary  measurements.  As  described  by  Foe,  one  is 
scarcely  able  to  comprehend  how  such  a  weird  creation  could  have  been 
called  forth,  to  use  a  legal  phrase,  in  "cold  blood."  As  given  to  the 
world  of  literature  "The  Raven"  is  a  masterpiece  of  passion,  but  as  an 
inchoate  poem,  in  the  formative  condition  of  a  much  erased  and  inter- 
lineated  manuscript  of 'the  author,  it  was  purely  a  work  of  the  intellect. 
It  was  not  ihe  spontaneous  production  of  passion,  but  the  premeditated 
creation  of  the  reasoning  faculties.  Passion  was  reached  after  careful 
analysis,  and  the  climax  was  written  first.  The  locale  was  determined 
and  the  effect  of  the  denouement  was  systematically  planned  before  the 
lover  imploringly  exclaims: 

Tell  this  soul  with  sorrow  laden,  if  within  the  distant  Aidenn, 
It  shall  clasp  a  sainted  maiden  whom  the  angels  name  Lenore. 

It  is  everywhere  apparent  that  Poe  reached  the  triumph  of  Art  in 
passion  by  the  most  studious  observance  of  well-known  principles  of 
acoustics,  by  a  close  "circumspection  of  space,"  and  "insulated  inci 
dent,  "to  use  his  own  phrases.  His  processes  wrere  strictly  analytical. 
A  few  sentences  from  his  essay  throw  light  on  the  subject: 

"  Most  writers—poets  in  especial— prefer  having  it  understood  that  they 
compose  by  a  species  of  line  frenzy — an  ecstatic  intuition — and  would 
positively  shudder  at  letting  the  public  take  a  peep  behind  the  scenes, 
at  the  elaborate  and  vacillating  condition  s  -lit,  and  fft  the  true 

purposes  seized  only  at  the  last  moment." 

said:  "It  is  my  design  to  render  it  manifest  that  no  one  point  in  it^ 
composition  is  referrible  either  to  accident  or  intuition— that  the  work 


I£  MAGAZINE  ESSAYS. 

proceeded  step  by  step,  to  its  completion,  with  the  precision  and  rigid" 
consequence  of  a  mathematical  problem."  Poe  continues  at  great 
length  and  gives,  step  by  step,  the  tedious  processes  of  composition 
pursued  in  writing  his  universally  admired  poem.  In  this  connection 
a  digression  for  a  moment  may  be  pardoned,  as  it  pertains  to  Foe's 
estimate  of  his  own  works.  While  "The  Kaven"  and  "The  Bells"  have 
been  almost  universally  esteemed  as  of  higher  value  than  all  Poe's  poems, 
unless  it  be  a  little  gem  called  "A  Dream  within  a  Bream,"  which 
elocutionists  highly  prize,  he  himself  liked  "Lenore"  best,  and  it  is  said 
that  "above  his  desk  always  hung  the  romantic  picture  of  his  loved  and 
lost  Lenore." 

~No  modern  poetry  presents  a  wider  scope  for  good  readers  than  many 
of  the  creations  of  imagination  written  by  Poe.  His  "Bells"  must 
have  been  written  expressly  for  reading  aloud  by  persons  with  well- 
trained,  melodious  voices.  To  read  it  simply  with  the  eye  half  its  beauty 
is  lost.  From  the  sleigh  bells  to  the  deep  toned  funeral  bells  there  is  all 
imaginable  range  of  form,  pitch,  force,  stress,  quality  and  movement  of 
voice.  In  many  of  his  minor  poems  there  is  constant  reference  to  the 
melodies  and  splendors  of  the  human  voice.  In  this  fact  may  be  found 
one  of  the  most  striking  contrasts  to  the  verse  of  Emerson,  Seldom  can  a 
poem  be  found  in  all  that  he  wrote  in  which  there  is  any  reference  what 
ever  to  the  powers  of  vocal  expression.  Word-forms  and  thought-forms, 
the  love  of  truth  and  beauty,  and  the  moral  sentiment,  prevail  in  all  his 
poetry.  From  the  standpoint  of  the  vocalist  or  dramatist  his  prose  is 
infinitely  superior  to  his  poetry,  for  some  of  it  rises  to  the  vividness- 
of  true  poetic  imagination,  and  carries  a  dramatic  fire  in  its  eloquent 
refrains. 

It  is  urged  by  some  critics  that  Emerson  does  not  respect  the 
forms  of  expression  demanded  in  poetry.  It  is  true  that  the  chief 
popular  objection  to  most  of  Emerson's  poetry  is  that  it  lacks  the  delicate 
art— minor  art,  may  be— which  gives  a  mellow  tinge  to  verse;  and  it  is 
this  delicate  harmony  and  combination  of  words  with  reference  to  vocal 
effect  and  melody  whrch,  more  than  anything  else,  renders  Poe  a  master 
word-painter,  and  sheds  a  gentle  halo  o'er  his  masterpieces.  Emerson 
cares  not  $o  much  for  these  artistic  touches,  for  he  often  weds  abrupt 
words  to  the  most  poetic  thoughts.  In  fact,  some  of  his  expressions  are 
shockingly  rude  in  construction.  Some  of  his  poetry  ignores  all  rules,  but 
there  are  moods  when  he  appears  to  be  in  communion  with  the  gentle 
when  lie  beholds  serenest  beauties  and  dips  his  golden  pen  of 


MAGAZINE   ESSAYS.  15. 

fancy  into  the  ink  of  Nature's  richest  colors.  There  are  times  when  lie 
sails  on  the  wings  of  fancy  and  abandons  the  stern  exactions  of  his  more 
thougtfiil  moods.  It  is  in  such  flights  that  he  most  resembles  Poe  and 
perhaps  comes  the  nearest  to  writing  what  is  popularly  thought  to  be 
-poetry.  The  following  little  verse  is  a  striking  instance  of  this  kind. 
Speaking  of  Nature  he  says  she— 

Beats  in  perfect  tune 

And  rounds  with  rhyme  her  every  rune 
Whether  she  work  on  land  or  sea, 
Or  hide  under  ground  her  alchemy, 
Thou  oanst  not  wave  thy  staff  in  air, 

Or  dip  thy  paddle  in  the  lake 
Bnt  it  carves  the  how  of  beauty  there,1 

And  the  ripples  in  rhymes  the  oar  forsake. 

This  is  so  much  unlike  most  of  Emerson's  poetry  that  it  might  well 
lie  classed  with  the  work  of  such  writers  as  Poe.    With  all  his  defects 
in  the  making  of  critic-proof  verse,  Emerson's  conception  of  poetry  is 
highly  philosophical,  and  his  execution  is  often  artistic.    Yet  his  poetry 
is  ideal.    It  does  not  reveal  the  pulse-beats  of  human  sorrow  or  tlje 
flushed  cheek  of  health.    His  themes  are  essentially  abstract,  and  his 
masterpieces  live  beyond  our  firesides  in  the  white  light  of  thought. 
This  at  once  removes  them  from  the  masses,  even  of  literary  people. 
Turning  from  Emerson's  poems  to  his  essays,  one  beholds  some  of  the 
most  beautiful  and  suggestive  sentences  to  be  found  in  the  whole  range 
of  literature.    The  reader  is  spellbound  by  the  art  tinges  of  his  manly 
prose  and  made  pure  by  the  fine  sunlight  of  his  thought.    He  captures 
the  secret  meaning  of  truth,  the  inner  beauty  of  nature,  and  embalms 
commonplace  events  in  the  ether  of  his  thought.    In  view  of  the  gentle 
fancies  which  he  often  weaves  into  his  practical  prose,  it  may  not  be  too 
much  to  state  that  he  often  wrote  poetry  in  the  form  of  prose,  and  in 
view  of  the  excess  of  thought  in  much  of  his  poetry— the  arrow  of 
reason  without  the  feather  of  fancy-that    his  poetry  is  philosophical 
prose.    As  an  example  of  the  density  of  his  poetic  thought,  observe  the 
little  verse  written  as  a  preface  to  "Spiritual  Laws" : 

The  living  Heaven  thy  prayers  respect. 
House  at  once  and  architect, 
quarrying  man's  rejected  hours, 
Builds  therewith  eternal  towers; 
Sole  and  self-commanded  works, 
Fears  not  undermining  triys, 


MAGAZINE  ESSAYS. 

Grows  by  decays, 

And,  by  the  famous  might  that  lurks 

In  reaction  and  recoil, 

Makes  flame  to  freeze,  and  ice  to  boil; 

Forcing,  through  swart  h  arms  of  Offence, 


simple  "AnBabel  Lee"  of  PoeX  beginning- 


It  was  many  and  many  a  year  ago, 

In  a  kingdom  by  the  sea, 
That  a  maiden  there  lived  whom  you  may  kno 

By  the  name  of  Annabel  Lee- 


fey  lovers  of  Emerson  : 

Nor  knowest  thou  what  argument 

Thy  life  to  thy  neighbor's  creed  has  lent. 

All  are  needed  by  each  one  ; 

Nothing  is  good  or  fair  alone 

I  thought  the  sparrow's  note  from  heaven, 

Sinking  at  dawn  on  the  alder  bough; 

I  brought  him  home,  in  his  nest,  at  even; 

He  sings  the  song,  but  it  pleases  not  now, 

Far  I  did  not  bring  home  the  river  and  sky;- 

He  sang  to  my  ear,-they  sang  to  my  eye, 

The  delicate  shells  lay  on  the  shore; 

The  bubbles  of  the  latest  wave 

Fresh  pearls  to  their  enamel  gave  ; 

And  the  bellowing  of  the  savage  sea 

Greeted  their  safe  escape  to  me. 

I  wiped  away  the  weeds  and  foam, 

1  fetched  my  sea-born  treasures  home; 

But  the  poor,  unsightly,  noisome  things 

Had  left  their  beauty  on  the  shore, 

W^h  the  sun  and  the  sand  and  the  wild  uproar, 

The  lover  watched  his  graceful  maid, 

As  mid  the  virgin  train  she  strayed, 

Nor  knew  her  beauty's  best  attire 


, 


MAGAZINE  ESSAYS.  17. 

Was  woven  still  by  the  snow  white  choir. 
At  last  she  came  to  his  hermitage, 
Like  the  bird  from  the  woodlands  to  the  cage  ;— 
The  gay  enchantment  was  undone. 
A  gentle  wife,  but  fairy  none. 
.  Then  I  said  "I  covet  truth; 
Beauty  is  unripe  childhood's  cheat; 
I  leave  it  behind  with  the  games  of  youth." 
As  1  spoke,  beneath  my  feet 
The  ground  pine  curled  its  pretty  wreath, 
Running  over  the  club-moss  burrs; 
1  inhaled  the  violet's  breath  ; 
Around  me  stood  the  oaks  and  firs; 
Pine-cones  and  acorns  lay  on  the  ground; 
Over  me  soared  the  eternal  sky, 
Full  of  light  and  of  deity; 
Again  I  saw,  again  I  heard, 
The  rolling  river,  the  morning  bird;— 
Beauty  through  my  senses  stole; 
I  yielded  myself  to  the  perfect  whole. 

Another  little  poem,  entitled  "Friendship,"  is  admired  by  the  lovers 
of  Emerson.  The  philosophy  in  this  is  in  keeping  with  what  appears 
throughout  his  simpler  verses.  The  first  two  lines  are  proverbial  — 

A  ruddy  drop  of  manly  blood 
The  surging  sea  outweighs. 

These  examples  are  fragmentary,  yet  they  make  plain  my  meaning. 

When  you  would  see  Emerson's  best  poetry,  in  so  far  as  poetry  con 
tains  the  eloquence  and  music  of  dramatic  passion  and  fine  word 
painting,  you  may  often  find  it  by  turning  to  his  essays.  Every  page  of 
his  remarkable  essay  on  "Love"  is  suggestive  of  fairyland  pictures. 
What  can  be  more  beautiful  than  this? — 

"No  man  ever  forgot  the  visitations  of  that  power  to  his  heart  and 
brain,  which  created  all  things  anew;  which  was  the  dawn  in  him  of 
music,  poetry  and  art;  which  made  the  face  of  nature  radiant  with  purple 
light;  the  morning  and  the  night  varied  enchantments;  when  a  single 
tone  of  one  voice  could  make  the  heart  bound,  and  the  most  trivial  cir 
cumstance  associated  with  one  form  is  put  in  the  amber  of  memory; 
when  he  became  ail  eye  when  one  was  present,  and  all  memory  when  one 
was  gone. " 

Again:  "The  day  was  not  long  enough,  but  the  night,  too,  must  be 
consumed  in  keen  recollections;  when  the  head  boiled  all  night  on  the 


18.  MAGAZINE  ESSAYS. 

pillow  with  the  generous  deed  it  resolved  on;  when  the  moonlight  was  a 
pleasing  fever,  and  the  stars  were  letters  and  the  flowers  ciphers,  and 
the  air  was  coined  into  song." 

See  what  a  fancy  continues:  "The  lover  sees  no  resemblance  except  to 
summer  evenings  and  diamond  mornings,  to  rainbows  and  the  song  of 
birds.1' 

When  he  writes  of  the  wonders  of  law  and  the  grandeur  of  Nature, 
how  he  soars  into  the  realms  of  poetic  eloquence!  Witness  this  example: 

'•How  silent,  how  spacious,  what  room  for  all,  yet  without  place  to 
insert  an  atom,— in  graceful  succession,  in  equal  fulness,  in  balanced 
beauty  the  dance  of  the  hours  goes  forward  still.  Like  an  odor  of 
incense,  like  a  strain  of  music,  like  a  sleep,  it  is  inexact  and  boundless." 

\  few  passages  like  these,  scattered  through  the  pages  of  his  essays 
m-ule  his  literarv  style  famous  for  the  beauty  of  its  illustrations, 
true  that  such  a"style  is  not  continuous,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that 
diamonds  are  rare.'  It  is  enough  that  such  sentences  have  been  written, 
that  a<*reat  "propounder  of  philosophy"  should  abandon  the  stellar 
depths  for  a  time,  and  breathe  with  us  the  air  which  is  the  sustenance  of 
nlodding  every  day  mankind.  There  is  something  in  his  statement  of 
the  conditions  of  love  and  friendship  which  is  generous  and  progressive 
and  the  themes  seem  hallowed  by  his  presence,  These  isolated  quota 
tions  show  the  warmer  side  of  his  nature.  In  after  years  he  seldom 
wrote  in  such  a  vein. 

Emerson  regarded  poetry  as  the  second  and  higher  meaning  of  prose, 

as  \  symbol  pointing  to  the  fact  next  beyond  reality.    "The  poet  gives 

is  the  eminent  experience  only-a  god  stepping  from  peak  to  peak,  nor 

l-intin-  his  foot  but  on  a  mountain. "  "First,  the  fact ;  second,  its  impres- 

orwhatl  think  of  it."    This  is  an  epitome  of  his  philosophy  of 

Doetrv     "The  impressions  on  the  imagination  make  the  great  days  of 

life  "  -Poetry  is  the  perpetual  endeavor  to  express  the  spirit  of  the  thing, 

•  mss  the  brute  body,  and  search  the  life  and  reason  which  cause  it  to 
PviVt'  to  see  that  the  object  is  always  floating  away,  whilst  the  spirit  or 
necessity  which  causes  it  subsits."  Again,  of  the  true  poem  he  says:  "In 
poetry  we  require  the  miracle.  The  bee  flies  among  the  flowers,  and 
gets  mint  and  marjoram,  and  generates  a  new  product,  which  is  not  mint 
and  marjoram,  but  honey  ;  the  chemist  mixes  hydrogen  and  oxygen  to 
vie  d  a  new  product,  which  is  not  these,  but  water;  and  the  poet  listens 


MAGAZINE   ESSAYS. 

to  conversation,  and  beholds  all  objects  in  nature,   to  give  back,  not 
them,  but  a  newr  and  transcendent  whole." 

Here  is  Foe's  idea  of  poetry: 

"I  designate  Beauty  as  the  province  of  the  poem,  merely  because  it  is 
an  obvious  rule  of  Art  that  effects  should  be  made  to  spring  from  direct 
causes  *  *  *  *  "  Truth  demands  a  precision  and  passion  a  home 
liness  which  are  absolutely  antagonistic  to  that  beauty,  which,  I  maintain 
is  the  excitement,  or  pleasurable  elevation  of  the  soul."  It  is  probable 
that  Foe's  conception  of  poetry  is  clearly  revealed  in  LkThe  Raven"  and 
in  "Lenore."  See  how  the  opening  of  his  favorite  poem  illustrates  the 
point — 

Ay,  broken  is  the  golden  bowl !— the  spirit  flown  forever! 
Let  the  bell  toll!— a  saintly  soul   floats  on  the  Stygian  river; 
And,  Guy  De  Vere,  hast  thou  no  tear?— weep  now,  or  never  more; 
See,  on  yon  drear,  and  rigid  bier  low  lies  thy  love,/.Leriore ! 
Come,  let  the  burial  rite  be  read,— the  funeral  song  be  sung! 
An  anthem  for  the  queeuliest  dead  that  ever  died  so  young,— 
A  dirge  for  her  the  doubly  dead  in  that  she  died  so  young. 

These  positive  outlines  from  the  pens  of  the  two  poets  clearly  indicate 
how  they  viewed  that  branch  of  literature  in  which  both  became  famous. 
Emerson  viewed  poetry  through  the  eye  of  philosophy;  Foe,  through  the 
eye  of  art.  Foe  studied  effects  and  attained  them ;  Emerson  beheld  the 
thought,  the  essence  of  poetry,  and  mastered  it  in  conception,  if  not 
always  in  expression.  Foe  wrote  with  elocution  in  view,  as  the 
actor  studies  his  art.  Emerson  wrote  for  the  brain;  Foe  wrote  for  the 
heart.  Foe  was  an  actor  in  the  role  of  poet,  an  intense  nature  born  to 
feel  and  realize  the  dramatic;  Emerson  was  a  calm  thinker,  a  philosopher 
whose  love  of  the  true  and  beautiful  led  him  to  express  himself  in  the 
form  of  poetry.  No  two  men  were  more  unlike,  and  as  a  result  their 
poems  bear  no  marked  resemblance. 


STEAM  AND  HEREDITY. 
II, 


STEAM  AND  HEREDITY. 


EVEX  the  most  ordinary  observer  needs  no  argument  to  convince  him 
that  the  application  of  steam  to  mechanics  has  revolutionized  the 
face  of  the  earth,  and  made  cities  possible  where  were  uninhabited  tracts 
of  land.  The  locomotive  has  justly  been  called  a  ''winged  god"  which 
annihilates  time  and  space.  It  is  a  slave  which  works  with  tireless 
industry  through  the  cycle  of  the  full  day,  demanding  only  food  of  carbon 
to  properly  heat  its  iron  system,  when  it  pulsates  with  great  expansive 
power,  and  carries  our  burdens  on  its  broad  shoulders.  It  has  been  well 
trained  to  do  man's  work,  "in  hospitals  to  bring  a  bowl  of  gruel  to  a  sick 
man's  bed.  or  to  twist  beams  of  iron  like  candy  braids,  and  vie  with 
forces  which  upheaved  and  doubled  over  the  geologic  strata."  ISo 
invention,  since  man  first  fought  the  elements,  and  struggled  to  over 
come  the  powers  of  gravitation  has  done  so  much  to  promote  the  progress 
uf  the  race,  as  the  utilization  of  steam.  The  subjugation  of  the 
powers  of  the  earth  has  in  a  great  degree  been  rendered  possible  by  the  aid 
of  the  same  civilizing  power.  But  there  is  a  most  interesting  phase  of 
this  question  which  has  as  yet  found  but  limited  expression  in  the  cur 
rent  thought  of  the  times.  I  refer  to  the  effects  which  steam  has 
wrought  upon  man  in  his  social  relations,  and,  in  a  broader  sense,  upon 
the  race  of  the  future  in  its  physical  and  mental  structure.  Some  very 
interesting  problems  are  presented  in  the  transformations  brought  about 
by  rapid  communication,  and  they  are  of  such  a  nature  as  to  determine 
in  a  great  degree  the  character  of  posterity. 
As  a  fundamental  proposition  let  us  assume  that  statistics  show  a 


2:L         .  MAGAZINE  ESSAYS, 

tendency  to  celibacy.  Such  a  statement  is  corroborated  by  the  data 
reported  by  recent  students  of  our  civilization.  In  the  great  centres  of 
population,  especially,  marriage  is  becoming  more  unpopular  than  it  was 
in  generations  past.  I  think  this  is  fine  to  causes  which  may  be  traced 
in  a  great  degree  to  the  effects  of  steam,  a  factor  in  our  civilization 
which  must  essentially  regulate  the  number  of  marriages  and  greatly 
determine  what  classes  will  marry.  It  would  be  interesting  to  have  some 
clever  student  of  the  philosophy  of  civilization  unfold  the  question  in 
its  fulness:  but  I  merely  outline  the  thought. 

What  is  the  effect  of  steam  and  this  rapid-transit  civilization  upon 
celibacy?  As  an  answer  I  accept,  in  great  part,  the  proposition  of  Mr. 
Buckle,  that  the  price  of  bread  governs  the  number  of  marriages  in  a 
given  country.  There  will  not  be  many  marriages  where  the  conditions 
of  success  are  difficult;  and  whatever  renders  greater  the  incompatibility 
between  marriage  and  moderate  means,  whatever  makes  times  harder 
and  the  marital  responsibilities  larger,  must  greatly  decrease  the  number 
of  such  alliances.  Steam  has  accomplished  this  result.  Has  it  not  en 
larged  our  ideals  of  good  living?  Has  it  not  lengthened  the  catalogue 
of  our  necessities  and  increased  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  an  adequate 
matrimonial  status?  A  rapid  glance  at  a  long  list  of  the  new  accom 
paniments  of  culture,  which  could  not  have  existed  previous  to  railroads, 
is  sufficient  to  convince  a  casual  observer  that  "the  price  of  bread "- 
rather,  the  price  of  necessities,  actual  or  ideal,— is  much  higher  than  it 
was  fifty  years  ago.  Will  this  not  have  the  effect  of  rendering  it  more 
difficult  to  attain  to  the  position  in  society  which  people  desire  before 
entering  into  the  marriage  relation?  As  intercommunication  has 
been  rendered  next  to  universal  over  the  face  of  the  earth  the  world  has 
become  cosmopolitan,  and  good  living  is  expensive.  Imported  goods,  such 
as  wearing  apparel  and  household  articles,  are  quite  common,  whereas  a 
hundred  years  ago  ox-teams  and  stage  coaches  as  common  carriers  pre 
cluded  such  extravagance.  The  standard  of  dress  was  cheaper  and  the 
country's  mode  of  life  was  more  provincial.  To-day  architecture  is 
more  expensive,  and  every  object  of  use  or  beauty  is  summoned  from 
afar.  Parisian  trousseaux  may  be  ordered  by  galvanic  speech,  and  reach 
their  destination  in  some  western  American  state  quicker  than  the  old 
lathers  could  have  sent  their  humble  homespun  across  a  few  dozen 
counties.  Theatres,  formerly  limited  to  the  great  cities  where  acting 
was  cultivated,  have  now  sprung  up  in  every  village  of  a  few  thousand 
inhabitants-.  In  the  same  manner  the  methods  of  modern  times  have 


MAGAZINE   ESSAYS.  25. 

increased  the  expenses  of  marriage  itself,  for  summer  resorts  and  long 
bridal  tours  are  the  innovations  of  yesterday.  Costly  house  decorations 
and  rare  treasures  of  art  are  brought  by  lightning  express.  Poor 
Mr.  Jones  will  not  marry.  He  does  not  care  to  ignore  the  ideals  of  the 
age,  which  have  become  the  prevailing  fashion,— enlarged  into  necessi 
ties  by  the  increased  facilities  of  the  times.  He  is  not  ready  to  compete 
with  the  whole  world,  whose  cosmopolitan  customs  have  revolutionized 
old  ways  of  living  and  made  modern  economy  more  expensive  than  the 
luxuries  of  his  ancestors.  Thus,  steam,  or  more  properly  the  progress, 
the  civilization  ripened  by  its  influences,  deters  a  large  number  of  people 
from  marrying.  What  people?  What  classes  of  Americans  will  be 
influenced  by  the  considerations  outlined?  Not  the  very  wealthy,  for 
they  are  within  reach  of  the  new  ideals,  the  more  expensive  demands, 
the  enlarged  necessities  of  the  age.  Not  the  very  poor,  for  they  live 
beneath  the  behests  of  fashion,  in  a  world  where  the  ambitions  for  social 
standing  and  the  distinctions  of  social  caste  do  not  exist.  The  middle 
classes  are  chiefly  influenced  by  the  new  regime,  and  a  diminished  per 
centage  of  this  class  enters  into  the  marriage  relation.  Whether  the  fact 
that  this  factor  is  at  work  will  perceptibly  influence  the  race  of  to-morrow 
is  a  question -of  little  practical  bearing,  yet  it  is  most  interesting  as  a 
speculative  problem.  The  parentage  of  children  is  undoubtedly  a  factor 
which  has  great  influence  upon  their  lives  and  characters,  and  the  parents 
of  the  majority  of  posterity  in  this  country  will  be  selected  from  the  very 
poor  classes  of  the  people;  or,  more  properly,  from  the  very  poor  and  the 
wealthy,  but  as  there  are  ten  very  poor  people  to  every  one  rich  one,  it 
is  safe  to  say  from  the  poor.  It  will  be  found  that  in  every  hundred 
poor  people  there  is  a  larger  number  who  marry  than  there  is  in  every 
hundred  in  moderate  means,  with  the  new  ambitions  of  the  age,  temping 
them  to  say  "No."  The  immediate  question  arising  from  this  fact  is  as 
to  the  ability  of  the  poor  to  properly  rear  and  educate  their  children. 
Have  they  the  wealth  to  sufficiently  educate,  feed  and  clothe  them? 
Have  they  the  intelligence  to  outline  and  observe  the  conditions  of 
health,  the  hygienic  and  physiological  rules  essential  to  their  children's 
physical  welfare?  Then  again,  what  is  the  mental:an(t  physical  condition 
of  the  poor?  If  Mr.  Francis  Galton 'slaws  of  heredity  are  of  account  the 
character  of  coming  children  greatly  depends  upon  their  parents.  Are 
the  poor  brawny,  muscular,  and  healthy,  or  are  they  overworked,  ill-fed 
and  deformed  from  bending  over  modern  machinery  and  being  housed  in 
overcrowded  factories  and  shops?  If  so,  how  will  this  affect  their 


20.  MAGAZINE  ESSAYS, 

offspring?  These  are  pertinent  questions.  They  are  of  such  a  nature 
as  to  start  a  train  of  thought  that  leads  to  the  very  heart  of  the  question 
at  hand. 

The  suggestions  which  occur  in  studying  this  subject  are,  as  I  have 
said,  nice  studies  in  a  direction  that  leads  to  the  broad  problems  of 
economic  science.  At  present  the  perceptible  effect  is  very  small,  for, 
though  there  is  undoubtedly  a  largely  diminished  number  of  marriages 
in  recent  years,  the  diminution,  a  large  number  in  itself,  is  small  com 
pared  with  numbers  so  vast  as  the  millions  which  make  the  total  of  our 
population-  Like  all  generalizations,  these  observations,  to  be  of  prac 
tical  value,  must  be  extended  over  areas  of  long  duration.  The  data 
must  be  full  before  the  result  is  strikingly  noticeable. 

It  is  quite  evident  that  the  propositions  deduced  from  a  study  of  steam 
and  progress  are  tenable.*  Then  who  can  say  what  limit  there  is  to  this 
agent's  power?  It  may  yet  change  man  in  his  essential  characteristics 
not  less  than  man  has  transformed  nature  by  its  aid.  One  might  trace 
at  length  the  more  obvious  changes  due  to  rapid  locomotion,  such  as 
better  facilities  for  education.  A  great  part  of  the  wonderful  success 
of  daily  papers  is  attributable  to  the  improvements  which  the  new  age 
has  brought  with  it.  The  rich  harvest  of  the  world's  news  and  thoughts 
is  enjoyed  by  people  in  locations  that,  but  for  steam,  must  have  remained 
remote.  Few  places  are  now  inaccessible,  and  for  a  few  cents  the 
humblest  citizen  may  purchase,  at  far.  distant  places,  a  photograph  of 
the  world.  Steam,  telegraphy,  and  the  printing  art,  go  together— a  trio 
of  conquerors.  They  are  concentrated  in  the  newspaper  as  an  intelligent 
breakfast  companion.  The  quiet  lessons  of  newspapers  reach  the  masses, 
carried  by  swift  trains.  The  nimble  workmen  who  skilfully  built  the 
pages  are  scarcely  in  sound  sleep  by  the  time  that  people  hundreds  of 
miles  away  begin  to  read  the  news  of  the  hour  and  all  the  lessons  con 
tained  in  the  editorial  colums.  Steam  must,  therefore,  have  much  credit 
for  the  quickened  thought  and  better  education  of  the  times,  which  is 
not  without  effect  on  posterity. 


*NoTE  —Another  tendency  which  is  doubtless  an  Important  factor  in  deterring 
marriages  is  the  nomadic  spirit  instilled  into  the  minds  of  many  persons  by  the 
largely  augmented  opportunities  for  traveling.  Many  persons  thus  form  rambling 
habits  which  they  never  give  up.  The  desire  to  settle  down  in  life  becomes  less  and 
less  until  finally  there  is  no  ambition  whatever  for  a  hornet  Who  can  detelunine 
the  extent  to  which  steam  is  responsible  for  this? 


ORATORY. 
III. 


ORATORY. 


IT  is  said  on  high  authority  that  eloquence  is  so  subtle,  so  mysterious, 
that  no  good  definition  of  the  term  has  ever  been  given.  There  is 
not  extant  anything  like  a  complete  list  of  the  implements  of  oratory, 
the  means  by  which  emotion  is  expressed  so  as  to  excite  emotions  in 
others ;  for  audiences  and  individuals  are  as  varied  as  the  degrees  of 
passion  and  intelligence  of  the  human  mind.  What  is  eloquence  in 
one  age  and  upon  one  occasion  may  be  not  less  than  tiresome  talk  or 
flippant  bombast  elsewhere;  so,  from  this  fact  no  specific  rules  of  oratory 
are  available.  Oratory  would  not  be  the  charming  power  it  is  if  it  could 
thus  he  classified  and  labeled,  like  chemists"  compounds,  for  future  use. 
Much  of  the  splendor  and  magic  of  good  speech  consists  in  its  surprises, 
and  in  the  fact  that  it  occasionally  reveals  powers  of  pathos,  of  language, 
or  of  thought,  which  had  not  been  suspected.  Just  what  oratory  is  no 
man  knows,  yet  every  one  possesses  it  in  a  degree,  and  at  certain  superior 
moments  of  feeling  all  men  are  truly  eloquent.  In  such  hours  of  clear 
headed  speech— perhaps  talking  with  a  group  of  familiar  friends— we 
speak  convincingly  and  with  ease,  and  when  such  conversations  are 
analyzed  a  firm  common  sense  is  found.to  permeate  them.  Courage  to 
express  one's  convictions,  relevancy  to  the  subject,  and  truthfulness, 
are  three  prime  requirements  of  impressive  speeches.  In  other  words, 
the  most  effective  oratory  in  the  end  is  that  which  is  simple  and 
truthful.  The  orator  must  be  in  earnest.  He  must  be  honest,  and  he 
must  knowr  what  he  is  talking  about.  Such  a  man  truly  represents  a 
cause,  and  as  a  great  writer  has  said,  he  then  stands  for  more  than  he 


30.  MAGAZINE   ESSAYS. 

utters— for  all  that  HE  is.  The  man  is  more  conspicuous  than  the  speech, 
which  is  but  a  partial  expression  of  the  nobility  of  his  character,  an 
exponent  of  his  manhood. 

The  old  books  make  some  nice  distinctions  between  eloquence  and 
oratory,  but  they  scarcely  hold  in  modern  times.  It  was  said  that 
oratory  is  artificial  and  acquired,  while  eloquence  is  a  natural  gift ;  that 
eloquence  is  feeling,  the  heart  addressing  the  heart,  while  oratory  is 
artificial,  or  acquired.  It  is  no  doubt  true  that  there  is  a  silent  language 
in  eloquence,  which  cannot  be  classified  as  speech.  A  cultivation  of 
rhetorical  pauses  and  stops  can  never  prove  as  effectual  as  the  unstudied 
movement  of  natural  emotions,  when  thought  takes  possession  of  the 
mind  and  pleads  by  appropriate  use  of  the  countenance,  and  by  its 
measured  volleys  and  rests. 

The  old  Latin  maxim  is  that  the  poet  is  born  and  the  orator  is  made, 
yet  oratory  cannot  be  developed  to  any  great  degree  in  a  mind  devoid  of 
the  natural  fire  of  eloquence;  but  orators  are  not  born,  for  a  study  of 
their  lives  shows  that  much  diligent  labor  was  expended  in  perfecting 
themselves  before  they  acquired  distinction.  It  is  to  a  certain  degree 
true  that  men  have  varying  capacities  for  powerful  speech,  but  it  is  a 
delusion  to  believe  that  a  man  may  not  become  a  clever  talker  by 
diligence.  Any  man  with  ordinary  physical  and  mental  powers  may,  by 
close  application,  become  at  least  a,  very  entertaining  and  instructive 
speaker.  This  may  not  be  oratory,  hut  it  is  so  like  it  that  few  will  dis 
cover  the  difference.  It  approaches  oratory  at  least  as  closely  as  art  and 
good  talent  approach  genius,  and  one  definition  of  genius  is  the  capacity 
for  hard  and  prolonged  labor. 

There  is  eloquence  of  various  degrees,  just  as  there  are  brains  of 
various  sizes  and  capacities.  The  eloquence  of  philosophy,  as  witnessed 
in  a  lecture  from  the  great  Emerson,  would  have  been  a  bore  to  many  a 
man  who  would  grow  red  with  enthusiasm  within  the  sound  of  a 
political  stump  speaker's  voice.  So  oratory  is  a  thing  of  infinite  degree- 

In  modern  times  the  old-fashioned  oratory  is  not  popular.  A  speech 
must  come  in  the  garb  of  the  times  or  it  is  scarcely  given  courteous 
reception.  The  old  sentences  were  long  and  involved,  and  the  speeches 
were  of  a  length  and  style  that  would  now  be  intolerable.  It  is  doubtful 
whether  even  a  dramatic  Whitefield  would  be  accorded  the  success  he 
had,  if  he  should  reappear  with  the  old  sentences  and  the  theology  of  his 
generation.  Labor-saving  and  time-killing  devices  have  imparted 


MAGAZINE  ESSAYS.  31. 

their  spirit  to  the  methods  of  our  education  and  the  manner  of  our 
speech :  as  a  result  short  words  are  popular,  and  sentences  run  in 
4 'nervous  knots,"  impatient  of  being  prolonged.  A  recent  writer  in  the 
Xew  York  Sun  did  not  miss  the  truth  far  when  he  said  that  eloquence 
of  the  future  will  be  "a  gleam  of  light  shot  into  one  sentence,  a  dart  of 
fine  reason,  an  eye-beam,  a  simple  waving  of  the  head."  It  is  certainly 
true  that  we  are  less  patient  of  piled  up  climaxes  and  cumulative 
perorations  than  our  forefathers  were.  The  spirit  of  the  business  man 
permeates  the  best  political  speeches  of  the  age,  and  many  popular 
ministers  address  sinners  on  questions  of  destiny  in  a  crisp,  matter-of- 
fact  manner. 

The  good  speaker  should  be  reasonably  logical  in  his  conclusions  but 
never  tediously  so  in  his  methods.  An  elaborate  style  filled  with  abstract 
philosophy  is  not  suitable  foi  public  speeches  to  miscellaneous  audiences. 
Such  addresses  should  be  confined  to  the  lecture  rooms  of  specialists 
as  they  invariably  disappoint  the  mass  of  every  day  listeners.  As  a 
model  of  literary  style  some  of  Lord  Macaulay's  writings  are  unequaled. 
His  style  is  vivid  enough  for  the  imagination,  yet  terse  enough  for  the 
expression  of  thought.  It  is  never  necessary  to  read  a  page  twice.  An 
example  from  his  ''History  of  England"  is  in  point.  Observe  its  simple 
beauty: 

"We  are  under  a  deception  similar  to  that  which  misleads  the  traveler 
in  the  Arabian  desert.  Beneath  the  caravan  all  is  dry  nnd  bare;  but  far 
in  advance  and  far  in  the  rear  is  the  semblance  of  refreshing  waters. 
The  pilgrims  hasten  forward,  and  find  nothing  but  sand  where  an  hour 
before,  they  were  toiling  through  sand.  A  similar  illusion  seems  to 
haunt  nations  through  every  stage  of  the  long  progress  from  poverty  and 
barbarism  to  the  highest  degrees  of  opulence  and  civilization.  But,  if 
we  ressolutely  chase  the  mirage  backward,  we  shall  find  it  receding  before 
us  'into  the  regions  of  fabulous  antiquity." 

Such  a  style  has  formed  the  basis  of  many  an  orator's  speech.  It  is 
admirably  adapted  to  outbursts  of  descriptive  eloquence,  varying  in 
rythm  and  intensity  with  the  thought  of  the  speaker.  It  would  not  be 
advisable  to  follow  Carlyle's  peculiarities  or  to  imitate  his  style 
proper,  but  there  are  instances  where  his  feeling  is  truly  magnificent. 
At  times  he  is  intensely  eloquent  and  a  peculiar  beauty  may  be  seen  in 
his  rugged  sentences.  His  description  of  the  kirk  or  church,  is  an 
example  which  illustrates  the  idea.  Notice  how  he  relates  a  plain 
truth  in  a  striking  manner: 


32,  MAGAZINE   ESSAYS. 

"The  church:  what  a  word  was  there;  richer  than  Golconda  and  the 
treasures  of  the  world!  In  the  heart  of  the  remotest  mountains  rises 
the  little  kirk ;  the  dead  all  slumbering  round  it,  under  their  white 
memorial  stones,  in  hope  of  a  happy  resurrection :  dull  wert  thou,  O 
reader,  if  never,  in  any  hour  (say  of  moaning  midnight,  when  such  kirk 
hung  spectral  in  the  sky,  and  being  was  as  if  swallowed  up  of  darkness) 
it  spoke  to  thee— things  unspeakable,  that  went  to  thy  soul's  soul." 

It  is  a  singular  fact  that  many  eminent  .speakers  have  possessed  poor 
voices,  although  nothing  is  more  tiresome  than  to  hear  a  speaker  with  a 
defective  voice.  Many  eminent  orators  have  been  awkward  in  gesticu 
lation,  although  awkwardness  usually  excites  our  risibles.  As  a  rule 
such  speakers  have  charmed  by  the  eloquence  and  warmth  of  their 
feelings  or  the  matchless  beauty  and  power  of  their  language.  Awkward 
ness  and  poor  voice  have  never  aided  them,  but  they  have  succeeded 
with  all  these  disadvantages.  As  the  French  say,  "they  have  done  well 
in  spite  of  themselves." 

Colonel  Ingersoll,  whom  many  persons,— aside  from  all  question  of 
belief,— regard,  as  the  beau  ideal  of  an  orator,  generally  speaks  in  conver 
sational  tones  but  with  great  earnestness.  He  is  simple  in  his  language 
and  very  natural  in  his  intonations.  He  once  told  me  that  his  rule  was 
to  speak  as  he  felt.  Said  he,  "If  wings  come,  fly;  but  never  beat  the  air 
like  a  bat  and  pretend  that  you  are  going  to  soar." 

The  late  General  James  Shields,  who  had  rare  opportunities  of  observing 
the  great  men  of  the  Senate  in  his  day  and  who  intimately  knew  Webster, 
Clay  and  Calhaun,  once  made  this  remark  in  my  hearing:  "The  fault  of 
our  young  men  is  flippancy  in  their  speeches.  They  must  learn  the  old 
maxim  not  many,  but  much  They  must  be  simple,"  He  valued  the 
thought  of  a  speech  first  and  the  language  second,  and  he  held  that  line 
thinking  would  usually  find  simple  words. 

Elocutionists  seldom  become  good  actors  or  speakers,  though  a  proper 
study  of  the  science  as  well  as  the  art  of  expressing  thought  and  feeling, 
by  vocal  utterance  and  action,  ought  to  perfect  the  speaker.  However, 
for  some  reason  a  mannerism  clings  to  very  many  elocutionists  and  they 
spoil  their  speeches  by  reminding  one  of  their  artificial  methods  at  every 
new  intonation  and  gesture.  They  violate  the  rule  that  demands  natural- 
A  striking  criticism  by  Col.  Ingersoll  in  a  recent  number  of  the 


ness. 


MAGAZINE  ESSAYS.  33. 

American  Review*  is  worthy  of  notice  in  this  connection.  He  says: 
"If  you  wisli  to  know  the  difference  between  an  orator  and  an  elocu 
tionist — between  what  is  felt  and  what  is  said— between  what  the  heart 
ami  brain  can  do  together  and  what  the  brain  can  do  alone— read  Lin 
coln's  wondrous  words  at  Gettysburg,  and  then  the  speech  of  Edward 
Everett.  The  oration  of  Lincoln  will  never  be  forgotten.  It  will  live 
until  languages  are  dead  and  lips  are  dust.  The  speech  of  Everett  wil 
never  be  read.  The  elocutionists  believe  in  the  virtue  of  voice,  the 
sublimity  of  syntax,  the  majesty  of  long  sentences,  and  the  genius  of 
gesture.  The  orator  loves  the  real,  the  simple,  the  natural.  He  places 
the  thought  above  all.  He  knows  that  the  greatest  ideas  should  be 
expressed  in  the  shortest  words — that  the  greatest  statues  need  the  least 
drapery.'' 

Orators  should  be  students  of  nature  and  of  books.  Their  reading 
should  be  of  the  best  authors,  but  their  own  originality  should  never  for 
an  instant  be  held  down  by  useless  forms  and  rules.  Oratory  may  be 
cultivated,  but  for  its  highest  forms  we  must  search  until  we  find  a 
pers  on  combining  natural  qualifications  with  the  fruit  of  much  toil.  If 
a  man  read  much,  that  he  may  speak  powerfully,  it  is  well;  but  he  will 
need  much  practice  at  speaking  to  enable  him  to  hide  the  ladders  by 
which  he  climbed,  to  dispel  the  smell  of  "midnight  oil. "  It  is  in  speaking 
naturally,  spontaneously,  and  without  painful  effort,  that  the  greatest 
effects  are  produced.  The  orator  must  be  a  student  of  books  and  a 
student  of  nature,  but  the  knowledge  gained  from  books  should  be 
filtered  through  nature,  that  it  may  come  with  a  freshness  that  delights, 
with  the  poetry  and  sublimity  of  a  Niagara.  Invention,  or  the  appear 
ance  of  invention,  is  the  crowning  glory. 

The  orator  should  have  confidence  in  his  cause  and  in  himself,  and  he 
must  be  honest  and  brave  in  speech.  He  is  to  convince  men  and  make 
them  feel  with  him.  for  eloquence  is  defined  to  be  the  art  of  convincing 
men  by  speech.  A  man  who  doubts  himself  or  his  cause  cannot  lead 
others.  The  orator  is  essentially  the  spokesman  of  a  cause  and  he  must 
be  firm  when  others  shake  their  heads  in  doubt  and  fear.  Though  the 
age  tends  toward  this  or  that  folly  or  eccentricity  the  orator  is  ever  for 
justice,  for  the  intellect,  for  man.'  When  men  in  crowded  and  smoky 
cities  question  the  good  of  civilization;  when  the  church  trembles  lest 
infidelity  shake  its  foundations;  when  monopolies  threaten  the  destruc- 

*XOTK.— The  article  referred  to  is  entitled  Motley  and  Mojiarch,  and  it  appears  in 
the  Xort/i  American  I'ev/'f ->r  for  December  1885.  What  is  said  about  elocutionists  is  so 
apropos  that  it  is  inserted  in  full. 


34.  MAGAZINE   ESSAYS. 

tion  of  individuals,— then  the  orator's  voice  swells  like  some  half-for 
gotten  song;  then  his  finger. points  to  the  handwritings  on  the  wall,  and 
he  teaches  men  to  follow  the  tenets  of  philosophy,  to  see  by  the  light  of 
experience.  From  the  dry  bones  of  the  past  he  builds  a  living  form  in 
the  full  bloom  of  health;  into  the  pleasant  expanse  of  some  fast  coming 
future  he  carries  those  whose  lips  are  thirsty  and  parched  from  the 
starvation  of  the  past.  The  orator  is  a  man  of  faith.  He  believes  in 
human  nature.  He  knows  that  there  is  sunshine  behind  the  clouds;  his 
eye  sees  the  clear  waters  ere  his  foot  lias  left  the  desert  sand.  In  his 
thought,  actions,  and  presence  you  behold  the  man  of  faith,  in  whose 
veins  runs  blood  rich  and  red. 

Old  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson  said  that  wit  consists  in  finding  resemblances. 
It  is  often  a  wonderful  power  in  public  speech,  for  it  acts  as  an  electric 
force  that  brings  the  speaker  and  the  audience  close  to  each  other.  It 
.causes  a  (low  of  good  feelings,  and  fellowship  of  this  kind  has  a  high 
value.  Even  in  pulpit  eloquence  there  have  been  remarkable  examples 
of  the  power  of  wit,  and  also  of  the  gentler  heat  called  humor.  It  is 
scarcely  necessary  to  refer  to  the  illustrious  Tom  Marshall's  reply  to  an 
antagonist  who  once  interrupted  his  speech  at  Buffalo,  nor  to  Randolph 
in  oltlen  times.  The  pages  of  history  are  full  of  anecdotes  of  witty 
speakers.  Tears  and  laughter  lie  side  by  side,  and  when  humor  and 
pathos  are  properly  mingled  their  effect  is  wonderful. 

The  improvements  which  a  man  desirous  of  becoming  a  public  speaker 
c  in  eiiect  in  himself  are  almost  without  limit.  He  has  the  range  of 
all  past  literature  from  which  to  pluck  the  flowers  of  language  that  have 
blossomed  through  ages  gone.  Orators,  poets,  and  philosophers  are  at 
his  side  at  the  cost  of  a  few  dollars.  He  has  theatres  and  lecture  rooms, 
where  he  may  observe  and  listen  until  his  understanding  is  hammered 
into  shape.  Overhead,  the  everlasting  sky  and  the  quiet  stars.  Here  in 
man's  world,  the  globe  and  its  wonders,  science  and  its  achievements, 
humanity  and  its  possibilities.  Science  comes  to  his  aid  now  with  a 
delicate  instrument*  for  making  artificial  balmy  air  so  he  may  cultivate 
the  qualities  of  voice  so  charming  in  Italian  speakers  and  singers.  By 
careful  study  and  practice  most  people  can  improve  their  voices  tenfold, 
and  a  good  voice  is  surely  a  fine  accompaniment,  if  not  with  many  per 
sons  an  essential,  of  goo:l  oratory.  In  ancient  times  oratory  was 

*XoTF  — Dr  Carter  MotFafs  wonderful  invention,  the  ammoniaphone.  which  is 
highly 'recommended  by  leading  actors,  speakers  and  singers.  It  deepens  and  im 
proves  the  voice. 


MAGAZINE   ESSAYS.  35. 

thoroughly  cultivated  as  an  art.  The  story  of  Demosthenes  and  his 
trials  is  familiar  to  everyone.  The  old  school  readers  tell  how  he  put 
pebbles  in  his  mouth,  shaved  one  side  of  his  head,  and  spoke  aloud  to 
the  rolling  sea. 

Cictro  was  an  orator  as  untiring  as  Demosthenes  in  his  habits  of  study. 
Mr.  Forsyth  tells  us,  in  his  biography,  that  Cicero  was  always  a  diligent 
student.    When  he  arose  to  speak  he  trembled  like  a  leaf,  for  he  had  . 
then  become  a  bundle  of  blazing  emotions.    Every  fibre  of  his  being 
struggled  to  speak.    The  biographer  says: 

"Cicero  therefore  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  that  art,  of  success 
in  which  he  was  soon  to  show  himself  the  most  splendid  example.  lie 
diligently  declaimed  at  home,  and  there  noted  the  passages  that  had  most- 
struck  him.  in  the  Greek  orators,  or  the  speeches  he  had  heard  delivered: 
taking  care  at  the  same  time  to  cultivate  his  style  by  written  com 
position,  and  the  perusal  of  works  of  rhetoric." 

Afterwards,  we  read  of  his  studying  philosophy  under  Plrilo,  of  the 
Academy  school  at  Athens.  This  is  sufficient  insight  into  the  history 
of  the  ancients  to  show  how  great  were  the  triumphs  of  oratory  and 
how  many  were  the  struggles  and  trials  of  the  orators.  In  no  subsequent 
ages,  with  rare  individual  exceptions,  have  men  ever  so  systematically 
and  thoroughly  studied  the  science  and  art  of  oratory  or  applied  them 
selves  in  its  practice  so  assiduously. 

Whatever  maybe  said  of  mere  elocution,  no  one  will  for  a  moment 
attempt  to  deny  the  value  of  what  vocalists  term  "voice  building" 
exercises,  such  as  strengthen  the  vocal  organs  and  give  purity  to  the 
tone.  An  effective  series  of  neck  gymnastics  often  proves  useful  in 
strengthening  the  voice.  These  exercises  are  outlined  in  many  works 
on  the  subject.  By  such  practices  and  by  a  study  of  proper  breathing 
methods  the  flexibility  and  power  of  the  voice  may  be  wonderfully  in 
creased.  In  his  "Eyes  and  Ears"  Henry  Ward  Beecher  says:  "Military 
men  and  shipmasters  attain  to  great  power  of  propagating  sounds.  It 
may  be  said,  that,  though  such  persons  are  able  to  eject  simple  orders, 
or  sentences,  they  could  not  sustain  the  fatigue  of  a  continuous  delivery 
for  an  hour."  The  truth  of  this  statement  is  best  known  to  public 
speakers  or  to  persons  who  have  at  some  time  spoken  in  public  and  found 
themselves  "all  out  of  breath"  and  dry  in  the  mouth.  Sometimes  this 
trouble  arises  from  nervous  excitement,  but  more  often  from  breathing 
improperly, — using  the  mouth  too  much,  and  thereby  robbing  the  nostrils 
of  their  proper  function.  Such  breathing  evaporates  the  saliva  which 


36.  MAGAZINE  ESSAYS. 

otherwise  would  keep  the  mouth  in  good  condition.  Economy  in  the 
expenditure  of  breath  is  a  thing  of  wonderful  importance. 

The  system  of  writing  speeches,  which  was  introduced  by  Pericles  and 
commended  by  Cicero,  seems  to  have  grown  in  favor  in  many  places  in 
modern  times.  Congressional,  Senatorial  and  Parliamentary  speeches, 
are  read  very  often  from  manuscripts ;  yet  most  people  grow  weary  unless 
u  written  speech  is  read  with  unusual  naturalness.  The  public  in  general 
will  agree  with  the  late  David  Paul  Brown,  an  eloquent  lawyer  and 
author,  of  Philadelphia.  He  says:  UA  written  speech  gives  you  no  idea 
of  true  oratory— no  more  than  a  lifeless  eagle  furnishes  you  with  a  just 
idea  of  the  same  bird,  when  cleaving  the  air  in  the  pride  and  majesty  of 
'  his  strength.  That  which  is  written  addresses  its  subject;  that  which  is 
spoken  addresses  its  hearers." 

Perhaps  for  all  men  the  best  rule  is  to  remain  silent  till  the  thought  is 
fully  ripe.  Do  not  speak  too  soon  or  say  too  much.  u^ay,  in  thy  own  mean 
perplexities,"  says  Caiiyle's  wonderful  Teufelsdrockh,  "do  thou  thyself 
but  hold  tliy  tongue  for  one  day:  on  the  morrow,  howT  much  clearer  are 
thy  purposes  and  duties;  what  wreck  and  rubbish  have  those  mute  work 
men  within  thee  swept  away,  when  intrusive  noises  were  shut  out ! 
Speech  is  too  often  not,  as  the  Frenchman  denned  it,  the  art  of  concealing 
thought;  but  of  quite  stifling  and  suspending  thought,  so  that  there  is- 
none  to  conceal.  Speech  too,  is  great,  but  not  the  greatest.  As  the 
Swiss  inscription  says:  'Speech  is  silvern,  silence  is  golden:'  Speech  is 
of  Time,  Silence  is  of  Eternity.  *  *  *  Thought  will  not  work  except 
in  Silence."  But  we  cannot  remain  silent  forever.  Our  thoughts  fly  on 
the  wings  of  words.  They  ripen  and  blossom  in  the  soil  of  language, 
and  many  are  the  attractions  of  the  golden  tongue. 

For  the  orator  there  is  ever  room.  He  may  speak  of  humanity  and 
its  wrongs,  nature  and  its  beauties,  or  of  "the  splendors  and  shades  of 
heaven  and  hell,"  and  he  will  always  find  eager  listeners  in  this  country, 
if  he  speak  well. 


STUDIES  IN  SUICIDE. 
IV. 


STUDIES  IN  SUICIDE. 


IE  chief  advantage  in  writing  on  suicide  is  that  nobody  knows  much 
-L  about  it.  On  such  a  theme  the  fool  and  wise  man  may  in  a  manner 
meet  on  a  common  plane — that  of  their  mutual  ignorance.  However, 
from  the  fact  that  a  large  number  of  my  acquaintances  have  taken  "arms 
against  a  sea  of  troubles,  and  by  opposing"  ended  them,  I  have  been  led, 
against  natural  inclinations,  to  make  extended  observations  on  this  sub 
ject.  In  fact,  for  several  years  I  have  been  interested  in  reading  books, 
speeches,  pamphlets  and  sermons  about  suicide.  My  course  of  reading 
on  self-destruction  and  its  causes  has  also  been  stimulated  by  original 
investigations,  partly  such  as  any  one  interested  in  the  subject  might 
make,  but  chiefly  such  as  I  have  had  occasion  to  pursue  in  the  discharge 
of  newspaper  duties,  in  cities  where  many  suicides  have  occurred.  This 
is  sufficient  apology  for  inviting  the  attention  of  those  who  are  busy 
with  the  cares  of  life  and  the  possibilities  of  ambition,  to  the  considera 
tion  of  a  subject  which  few  contemplate  without  a  shudder. 

A  few  years  ago  there  was  a  great  discussion  among  medical  men — and 
it  is  still  an  open  question— as  to  whether  perfectly  sane  men  ever  kill 
themselves.  Ingenious  arguments  were  brought  forth  by  the  champions 
of  both  sides  of  the  question,  but  a  candid  perusal  of  the  evidence  wil l 
convince  most  persons  that  self-destruction  is  at  times  effected  by  sane 


40.  MAGAZINE   ESSAYS. 

men  in  cool  moments.*  Taking  it  for  granted  that  a  man  In  sound  mind 
sometimes  grows  weary  of  life,  it  is  interesting  to  know  the  processes  of 
reasoning  which  he  pursues  to  convince  himself  that  life  is  not  worth 


*XOTE.— Persons  who  are  interested  in  the  study  of  the  question  as  to  the  sanity 
of  those  who  commit  suicide  will  doubtless  be  led  to.  read  this  note,  which  treats  of 
that  phase  of  the  question. 

By  consulting  "Dunglison's  Medical  Dictionary"  I  find  it  stated  that  "suicide  is 
very  frequently  the  result  of  diseased  mind."  This  would  seem  to  indicate,  by 
negations,  that  the  writer  believes  that  suicide  may  be  committed  by  sane  people, 
•'•Bay's  Medical  Jurisprudence,"  a  standard  wo-rk,  says:  '-With  all  the  light  on  the 
subject  which  the  researches  of  modern  inquiries  have  elicited,  many,  probably, 
are  vet  unable  to  answer  understanding!^7  the  question  so  often  started,  whether 
suicide  is  always  or  ever  the  result  of  insanity."  Coming  to  the  gist  of  the  subject 
the  author  say's:  "To  the  healthy  and  well  balanced  mind  suicide  seems  so  strange- 
and  unaccountable  a  phenomenon,  that  many  distinguished  writers  have  incon 
siderately  regarded  it  as,  in  all  cases,  the  effect  of  mental  derangement;  while,  by 
manv  others,  it  has,  with  still  less  reasonr  been  viewed  as  always,  being  except 
in  connection  with  manifest  insanity,  the  act  of  a  sound  mind.  Neither  of  these 
views  can  be  supported  by  an  impartial  consideration  of  all  the  facts,  and  the  truth 
probably  lies  between  the  two  extremes."  *  *  *  *  "We  know  well  enough 
that  life  is  not  so  dear  that  it  will  not  be  readily  sacrificed  when  all  that  makes, 
it  worth  retaining  is  taken  away.  The  intrepid  Roman  chose  rather  to  fall  on 
his  own  sword,  than  survive  the  liberties  of  his  country  or  live  an  ignominious 
life ;  and  the  reverses  of  fortune  which  hurl  men  from  the  pinnacles  of  wealth 
or  power;  or  the  certain  prospect  of  infamy  and  the  world's  scorn,  are  no  very 
inadequate  motives  for  terminating  one's  existence.  In  these  cases,  the  person, 
no  doubt,  may  act  from  error  of  judgment,  and  thus  be  guilty  of  foolish  and  stupid! 
conduct,  but,  we  have  no  right  to  confound  such  error  with  unsoundness  ot  mind. 

[The  custom  of  the  ancients,  who  carried  poison  far  purposes  of  self  destruction, 
is  also  in  point.  Hannibal,  the  great  general,  killed  himself  by  ta-kirig  poison 
which  he  carried  concealed  in  a  linger  ring.  Hue  says  that  the  Chinese  have  a- 
custom  of  inflicting  punishment  on  their  enemies  bv  committing  suicide  at  then 

"Jt  cannot  be  denied,  that  the  eases  are  comparatively  few  in  regard  to  which 
it  would  be  safe  to  affirm  that  the  excitement  of  the  organic  action  of  the  brain 
and  nervous  system,  which  accompanies  this  perturbation  of  mind,  had  not  trans 
cended  the  limits  of  health,  and  passed  into  real  pathological  irritation." 

I  know  of  a  person  who  once  presented  the  following  interesting  and  rather  novel 
defense  of  suicide,  in  cases  of  disease.  It  might  more  properly  come  under  the 
head  of  euthanasia,  or  easy  death,  a  term  well  known  to  physicians,  tor  it  deals  more 
with  such  cases  as  come  under  this  term  than  with  the  more  rash  forms  ot  death 
Besides  it  must  be  remembered  that  statistics  show  a  very  small  percentage  of 
suicides  among  such  people  as  he  refers  to.  The  argument  is  so  ingenious  that  it  is 
given  in  full.  He  says:  "I  admit,  in  this  argument,  that  God  is  just  and  that  it  is 
our  duty  to  alleviate"  suffering  and  relieve  humanity  of  misery.  It  is  a  duty,  not  a 
privilege,  to  overcome  misery.  Self-protection,  or  self-defense,  is  the  prune  law  ot 
nature  and  furnishes  the  strongest  argument  for  self-destruction  in  cases  of  fetal 
and  painful  diseases.  If  A  runs  at  B,  with  an  empty  shot  gun  in  his  hand,  winch 
B  believes  is  loaded,  B  is  Justifiable  legally  and  also  on  the  highest  grounds  ot 
Christian  morals  in  killing  A,  in  self  defense.  This  case,  of  course,  is  based  on  the 
supposition  that  B  believed  and  had  good  reason  to  believe  that  A  meant  to  kill 
him.  In  other  words,  if  B  has  just  reasons  to  apprehend  that  A  means  to  kill  him 
or  commit  upon  him  great  bodily  harm,  he  is  morally  justified  m  killing  A  to 
m-event  it— and  the  highest  reasoning  supports  this  conclusion.  On  equally 
reasonable  grounds  A,  who  has  a  fatal  disease,  of  which  he  must  in  all  probability 
die  after  much  suffering,  is  justifiable  in  taking  his  own  life  as  a  preventive  ot 
much  suffering,  and  in  response  to  the  duty  of  all  men  to  avoid  the  infliction  ot 
misiM-v  on  themselves  or  others.  Now,  if  God  is  just  and  if  it  is  the  duty  ot  man  to 
alleviate  suffering,  in  response  to  the  highest  reason,  this  conclusion  is  irresistible. 
Admit  that  the  life  of  every  man  belongs  not  to  him,  but  to  the  Creator,  who  has 
the  right  to  say  when  it  shall  end.  The  same  axiom  applies  to  the  case  of  justifia 
ble  homicide,  bat  does  not  detract  from  the  argument  or  from  the  moral  right  to  take  a 


MAGAZINE   ESSAYS.  41. 

living.  Why  does  he  want  to  die?  "What  strange  philosophy,  what 
reckless  impulse  drives  him  to  reverse  the  prime  instincts  of  man,  the 
first  law  of  animal  nature  ?  Is  it  that  he  is  more  foolish  than  most  mem 
or  is  lie  wiser?  Does  he,  having  a  keener  insight  than  his  fellow  mem 
see  that  it  is  hest  to  die  ?  These  questions  are  suggested  by  the  perusal 
of  farewell  letters,  written  hy  despondent  men,  just  before  leaving  the 
world.  The  character  of  some  such  documents  demonstrates  that  a 
melancholy  mood  is  as  natural  to  certain  constitutions  as  oxygen  to  air. 
But  no  less  an  observer  than  Rnskin  declares  with  great  confidence  that 
••wherever  there  is  habitual  gloom,  there  must  be  either  bad  air, 
unwholesome  food,  improperly  severe  labor,  or  erring  habits  of  life." 
Again  he  states  that  cheerfulness  is  just  as  natural  to  the  heart  of  a  man 
in  strong  health  as  color  to  his  cheek.*  Whether  this  be  true  or  not 
It  is  certain  that  great  minds  are  often  gloomy.  It  would  be  a  difficult 
matter  to  say  just  what  is  the  cause  of  such  a  mood.  It  is  doubtless 
greatly  due  to  the  reactions  that  come  from  excessive  mental  work,  and 
it  may  result  in  part  from  overwork,  lack  of  rest  and  exercise,  and  like 
causes.  A  study  of  the  lives  of  great  men  shows  that  some  of  them 
have  been  constitutionally  pessimistic.  Great  wits  have  nearly  died  of 
ennui,  poets  and  philosophers  have  had  "the  blues,"  and  even  an  eminent 
teacher  of  the  gospel  of  cheerfulness  says :  " Tired  of  the  heat  and 
glamor  of  the  day,  we  hear  with  joy  the  rustling  garments  of  the  night" 
Whoever  is  habitually  gloomy  must  often  question  the  value  of  life,  and 
at  times  ask  himself  whether  it  is  indeed  a  blessing.  He  cannot  forever 
live  in  happiness  on  the  memory  of  one  supreme  moment.  One  or  two 
irolden  hours  in  his  experience  do  not  prove  tobe  a  covenant  for  all  future 
days,  and  in  time  he  inquires  whether  death  were  not  preferable,  as  an 
easy  escape  from  the  torments  of  disappointment.  But  cheerful  men  or 
men  apparently  content  with  life,  have  been  known  to  steal  out  of  the  world 

life  that  belonged  to  the  Creator  in  such  a  case.  It  is  our  duty  to  use  reason  and 
to  alleviate  suffering,  and  when  death  is  apparent,  near  at  hand  and  likely  to  be 
preceded  by  great  physical  pain,  we  are  justifiable  in  taking  a  hypodermic  injection 
of  morphine  and  quietly  ending  what  is  already  struggling  to  die.  Death  is  as 
hatural  as  life,  and  by  assisting  the  instrument  of  death  (fatal  diseases)  we  only 
assist  nature  and  thereby  do  right.  A  just  God  will  not  punish  a  creature  who 
honestly  seeks  death  in  relief  of  suffering,  in  the  full  belief  that  it  is  at  hand  by 
prolonged  misery.  Admitting  the  premises  this  argument  is  conclusive,  the 
the  basis  of  Christian  philosophy,  then  why  deny  them?"  This  argument  was 
adduced  by  a  man  who  had  a  mania  for  suicide,  but  it  is  certainly  put  in  a 
conning  manner.  If  any  reader  may  be  curious  to  investigate  this  question  farther, 
I  take  the  liberty  of  referring  him  to  an  eminent  physician  and  former  army  sur 
geon,  Dr.  Asher  Goslin.  He  now  resides  at  Oregon,  Missouri,  and  he  can  doubtless 
give  invaluable  citations  of  medical  authority  on  this  topic,  which  he  has  thoroughly 
investigated. 

*See  Mathew's  "Literary  Style." 


42.  MAGAZINE  ESSAYS. 

by  their  own  choice,  without  a  moment's  warning.  What  are  We  to  say 
of  such  cases  V  Where  is  the  philosopher  of  suicide  who  can  account 
for  this  y  If  the  clever  theory  of  such  a  thinker  as  Buckle  is  tenable 
there  is  a  cause,  a  law  which  governs  with  unerring  accuracy  the  number 
of  suicides  in  a  given  era  and  country.  Such  a  philosophy  may  account 
for  Mr.  Dark,  into  whose  pessimistic  soul  never  yet  a  ray  of  light  did 
fall,  but  does  the  slowly  working  cause,  the  chain  of  predisposing  events 
that  leads  to  suicide,  apply  to  -Mr.  Light,  who  is  all  sunshine,  and  who 
has  been  in  love  with  life  since  a  child  in  arms?  The  future,  that  has 
for  years  been  to  him  as  a  field  of  pleasing  opportunities,  and  into  whose 
benign  skies  he  has  ever  gazed  with  unabated  interest  and  hope,  suddenly 
becomes  black  as  deepest  midnight.  The  plan  of  creation  no  longer 
seems  to  be  a  perfect  tuning  of  time  and  of  opportunity.  Life  ceases  to 
impress  him  as  a  magical  union  of  seen  and  unseen  harmonies,  and  it 
becomes  a  heavy,  unendurable  train  of  thoughts,  a  wall  of  stone,  a  prison 
from  which  he  longs  to  escape.  To  solve  the  mystery  of  such  an  one's 
suicide  is  more  than  the  keenest  observer  can  do.  The  problem  takes 
deep  root  in  such  abstruse  questions  as  mental  philosophy  propounds.  It 
has  to  do  with  metaphysics,  objective  and  subjective  theories  of  the  world, 
and  many  questions  of  like  import.  The  sudden  sundering  of  the  firm  ties 
WThich  bind  a  cheerf  ul  mind  to  life,  with  all  the  strength  of  a  love  of 
the  beautiful  and  permanent,  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  freaks  of  a 
sound  mind,  if  it  does  in  reality  ever  occur  in  such. 

An  anonymous  writer  a  few  years  ago  put  forth  an  ingenious  theory 
that  suicides  occur  most  frequently  among  ambitious  people.  In  fact, 
he  went  so  far  as  to  say  that  Indians  and  old-fashioned  slave  negroes — 
those  who  have  not  become  educated  and  independent,  and  who  still 
carry  the  effects  of  slavery — never  commit  suicide.  He  argued  that  they 
live  in  such  a  manner  as  to  excite  little  ambition— the  Indians  all  being 
hunters,  and  the  negroes  virtually  slaves.  As  a  result  they  are  seldom 
grievously  disappointed  of  their  hopes,  of  which  they  have  but  few.  If 
this  be  a  true  solution  of  the  question,  we  have  data  from  which  to 
evolve  a  neat  generalization.  It  might  be  stated  as  a  fundamental 
proposition  that  the  great  underlying  cause  rf  suicide  is  an  i'!l-founded 
ambition  for  unattainable  ideals.  Indeed  there  is  much  truth  in  such  a 
statement,  for  it  is  agreed  among  statisticians  that  there  are  ten  suicides 
by  reason  of  anguish,  fear,  disappointment  and  mental  troubles  to  every 
one  caused  by  acute  pain,  sickness  or  physical  ailments.  Disappoint 
ment  in  business,  love  and  domestic  relations  causes  many  suicides. 


MAGAZINE  ESSAYS.  43. 

Then  the  question  arises  whether  people  are  properly  armed  in  philosophy. 
Do  the  masses  not  expect  too  much  from  their  favorite  ideals  ?  If  am 
bition  runs  high,  without  proper  direction,  it  may  poison  the  sweetest 
life.  The  great  Xapoleon  once  contemplated  suicide;  he,  the  most 
conspicuous  example  in  modern  times,  of  an  ambitious  man,  seriously 
thought  of  ending  his  days— when  thwarted  and  suriounded  by  what 
seemed  insurmountable  obstacles,  he  wanted  to  kill  himself.  A  great 
writer  has  said  that  when  Napoleon  had  an  ambition  it  was  ever, 
".Beware  the  obstacle  ! "  Perhaps  people  are  unduly  stimulated  to  become 
famous  or  rich.  In  many  such  cases  failure  ends  in  suicide.  It  may 
be  that,  as  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  has  so  forcibly  said,  we  do  not  live  with 
healthy  ideals  in  view.  We  need  more  of  the  calm  repose,  the  benign 
hopefulness  preached  so  beautifully  by  our  own  great  Sage  of  Concord. 
We  need,  as  a  healthful  climate  for  the  mind,  the  quietude  of  an  opti 
mistic  hope,  a  belief  in  the  eternal  fitness  of  things.  With  such  views  cf 
duty,  and,  with  an  abiding  trust  in  the  nobility  of  the  mind,  we  will  live 
slower  but  longer.  We  will  take  the  days  as  they  come  to  us,  sweetened 
with  light  and  perfumed  with  the  odors  of  truth.  Such  a  check  in  the 
ambitions  of  the  times  is  needed  as  will  place  life  on  a  higher  basis  than 
the  low  plane  of  commercial  prosperity.  The  vulgar  ambition  for  empty 
applause,  which  underlies  the  lives  of  many,  is  no  better.  To  live  for  the 
purpose  of  developing  one's  character  normally,  and  to  the  highest  degree 
possible  is  the  only  worthy  ambition  of  a  sane  mind.  This  is  the 
teaching  of  the  old  sages.  The  age  needs  such  sound  axioms  as  old 
Epicletus  propounded,— lessons  which  place  duty,  ambition  and  develop 
ment  upon  their  proper  plane.  A  narrow  philosophy  stakes  the  question 
of  life  or  death  on  the  success  or  failure  of  some  favorite  scheme  or 
ambition,  without  sufficiently  respecting  general  ends.  The  destiny  of 
man  is  overlooked,  and  the  bewildered  unfortunate  rushes  to  an  untimely 
end. 

The  old  question  of  DUTY  is  ever  new  as  the  odors  of  a  summer 
morning.  Just  to  live  aright,  to  preserve  the  equipoise,  the  delicate 
balance  between  hope  and  achievement,  between  the  ideal  and  the  real ! 
Schiller  gives  the  true  answer  to  the  oft-recurring  question  "What  shall  I 
do  ?"  He  says,  "THY  DUTY  EVER." 

"There  is  little  need  to  rush  from  life,"  says  a  writer  in  the  London 
Times,  "for,  like  the  man  who  runs  from  his  shadow,  the  consequences 
of  this  evolving  chain  called  life  being  eternal,  the  rash  person  is  never 
ireed.  He  can  never  escape  from  himself,  from  the  ego  that  is  the  all  of 


44.  MAGAZINE   ESSAYS. 

existence."  Let  him  wait  a  little  time  at  Lest,  and  the  three  score  and 
ten  years  journey  of  the  five  senses  is  over.  Let  him  hury  his  sorrows 
in  honorable  pursuits,  seeking,  meantime,. to  learn  what  lie  can  of  the1 
universe,  of  science  and  of  the  laws  of  progress.  As  Hamerton  so 
beautifully  says:  "Yet  if  we  often  blunder  and  fail  for  want  of  perfect 
wisdom  and  clear  light,  have  we  not  the  inward  assurance  that  our 
aspiration  has  not  been  all  in  vain,  that  it  has  brought  us  a  little 
nearer  to  the  Supreme  Intellect  whose  effulgence  draws  us  whilst  it 
dazzles?  Here  is  the  true  secret  of  that  fascination  which  belongs  to 
intellectual  pursuits,  that  they  reveal  to  us  a  little  more,  and  yet  a  little 
more;  of  the  eternal  order  of  the  universe,  establishing  us  so  firmly  in 
what  is  known,  that  we  acquire  an  unshakable  confidence  in  the  laws 
which  govern  what  is  not,  and  never  can  he,  known." 

This  is  the  spirit  for  every  worker  beneath  the  noonday  sun.  Let  him 
believe  in  the  resources  of  nature  and  in  the  possibilities  of  man  ;  let 
him  believe  that  "every  clay  is  Doomsday,"  and,  finally,  that  he  lives  in 
an  age  of  progress  and  liberty.  The  ocean  of  the  future  bears  on  its 
boundless  expanse  the  barks  and  crafts  and  steamers  of  invention  and  of 
hope.  The  waves  of  the  eternal  sea  of  time  wash  the  shores  of  unknown 
lands.  Every  human  being  has  a  first  class  passage  with  all  the  priv 
ileges,  rights  and  immunities  of  every  other  passenger.  He  has  no 
occasion  to  annul  his  own  right  to  live  when  the  stars  of  love  and  hope 
and  thought  may  shine  forever  in  his  course,  whether  rich  or  poor, 
prince  or  pauper ;  whether  the  king  of  men  or  the  loneliest  wanderer 
along  the  shores  of  human  toil. 


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